The wealth of Italian families continues to decrease, according to what Bank of Italy communicates. The datum that strikes the most, and photographs the exact dimension of the crisis, this is the drop recorded from 2007, the year in which it reached its highest levels in real terms, to 2011: -5,8%. The drop between 2010 and 2011, -3,4%, was very significant, while in the first half of this year the contraction was 0,5%.
At current prices, thehe overall net wealth decreased by 0,7% in 2011, with the decline in financial assets (-3,4%) more than offsetting the increase in real assets (1,3%). In real terms, however, the reduction in net wealth was 3,4%.
The "high degree of concentration" of wealth is striking, with the poorest half of households holding only 9,4% of total wealth, while the richest 10% hold 45,9%, leading to an increase in the Gini index, which measures the degree of inequality.
The net wealth of Italian families amounted to 8.619 billion euros, approximately 140.000 per capita and 350.000 euros per family. The percentage of Italian families in the red, i.e. those with negative net wealth, is 2,8%, down from 3,2% in 2008, but up from the beginning of the 2000s.
However, Italian households still have high net wealth, equal to 8 times the disposable income in 2010, and are "relatively little indebted". Finally, in 2011, the share of wealth held in Italian public securities increased by more than one percentage point.
